86

A LowRNoise Microphone Preamplifier*

ALEXASDER B. BERESKINf, FELLOW, IRE

Summary-This paper describes a low-noise two-transistor pre- it a-as expected that impedance levels could be chosen
amplifier which has been developed for use with microphones. For for optimum uoise figures.
asourceresistance of 1000 anoise figure of dbhasbeen
achieved. A corresponding middle-frequency gain of db, band-
The basic circuit developed is shown i n Fig. 1. This
width of 30 kc and output impedanceof 175 12 resulted. circuit uses two low-noise RCA n-p-ntransistors.
The two transistors used were selected on the basis of

I N amplifying the Ion--level signals produced bl- rib- low-noisefigurefrom a group of four units purchased.
bon and dynamic microphones, it is important to

low distortion. I t is equalll-importantthatrandom

T h e first stage is a regular common-emitter stage with
provide good linearity and freque1lc)- response and a 10-K collector load resistance and direct coupling to
the second stage which isa common-collector stagev,-ith
noise, microphonics, and hum pickup be k e p t a t a mini- a 10-K emitter resistor. A suitable bias and feedback re-
mum. sistor is connected between the second emitter and the
Excellent microphone preamplifier circuits using vac- first stage. Seglecting the power supply and the input
uum tubes have been developed. I n these circuits con- andoutputcouplingcapacitors,thecircuit usestwo
siderableattentiollmustbedevotedtothefilament transistorsandthreeresistors. A 5-pf electrolyticca-
supply and tendency towards microphonics i n the low- pacitor isused to couple the input signal to the first
level stages. Selected types of tubes and selected tubes base and a 25-pf electrolytic capacitor is used to couple
of a type are frequentlJ- used to insure the best results. the output signal to the output terminal. The power
A n equallyimportantproblem is therandom noise supply’ shown is one developed by the author for use i n
contributedbythe low-levelstagesandthesource- low-level transistoramplifiers. Inadditionto being
impedance level necessary to maximize the SYR of the transformerless, it is compatible with almost any other
system. A n impedance level of about 100,000 a,as seen equipment in usesinceaccidentalgrounding of either
by the grid circuit of the first stage, appears to result in ac line does not change the dc-output .voltage of this
the optimum S N R . At these impedance levels it is diffi- power suppll-. Of course, any other suitable sourceof dc
cult to shield the sl-stem against power-frequency signal voltage would work equallJ7 !!-ell.
pickup. If the microphone is located at a n appreciable The amplifierwastested for voltagegainandfre-
distance from the preamplifier, i t is firstnecessary t o quenc?. response by connecting a low-impedance source
transform the signal from the microphone impedance t o in series with various resistors to the input terminals of
approximately a 2 5 0 4 level, to transmit the signal over the amplifier. The “voltage gain” i n this case is defined
the required distance, and then to transform it to the as the ratioof the amplifier output voltage to the source
100,000-Qlevel required a t t h egrid of the first anlplifier. voltage.Thevariation of voltagegainandthefre-
-411 alternative method is to locate the first amplifier in quency at which the response is 3 d b below the middle-
the lnicrophone barrel or stand and to transform the sig-frequencJ- gain is shown as a function of the source re-
nal directly to the 100,000-9 level. The disadvantage of sistance in Fig. 2. I n particular, it should be noted here,
this process is that anode and filament supplies must be thatasourceresistance of 1000 yields a -3-dbfre-
brought in through the microphone cable. These disad- quenq- response of 30 kc and a voltage gain of 90 (3‘9
vantagesarenotinsurmountablesince vers-excellent db). The variation i n voltagegaincorresponds to a11
microphone preamplifier sy-stems have been developed. amplifier input resistance of 2000 Q.
Thepurpose of thisinvestigation was t o exanline \l’ith suitable shielding the hum level was made neg-
some of the problems involved in the use of relatively IigibIJ. small compared to the random-noise voltage in
low-cost commercial1~- available transistors for the de- the amplifier. This noise voltage was measured in three
sign of a low-noise microphone preamplifier. Only room different manners:
temperatures were to be considered and i t was desired 1) A X100 amplifier2 \\-as interposedbetweenthe
to have a circuit that would fulfill the requiremellts and
still be simple enough to be incorporated in the barrel of
a microphone. Since microphonics would be absent and A . R. Bereskin, “A transistorizedstereopreamplifierand tone
control for magnetic cartrides,” Proc. ~Yatl.Elertyonics Conf., vol. 15.
hum pickup could be eliminated bl- adequate shielding, pp, 1-1 18; 1959. Also, IRE TRASS. XVDIO,vol. AU-8, pp. 17-
20; January-February, 1960.
2 .I, R. Bereskin, “ A transistorized decade amplifier for low level
audio frequency applications,” Pvoc. A‘atl. Electronics Conf., vol. 13.
IZeceived by the PG.1, hIarch 20, 1961. pp, 189-197; .Also, I R E TRAYS. A U D I O . VOI. AU-5, pp. 138-112:
Elec. Engrg. Dept., VniversitJ- of Cincinnati, Ohio. September-October, 1957.

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 Rereskin: Low-Noise Llrlicrophone PreampliJier

I i I

Fig. 3-Filter circuit used in case C measurements.

Fig. l-ibIicrophone preamplifier circuit.

Fig. 4-Response characteristic for the filter of Fig. 3 .

Fig. 2-Gain and bandwidth characteristics.

output of the microphone arnplifier and the input

of a Ballantine i\Iodel 320 true RMS-VTVM. T h e
metering system in this case was down 3 db at 9
cycles and 100 kc.
2) Same as 1) except that a low-pass filter was inter-
posed between the XlOO amplifier and theVTVM.
I n this case, the metering circuit was down 3 db
a t 9 cycles and 15 kc and the equivalent white-
noise bandwidth was 15.7 kc.
3) Same as 1) except that a filter complementing the G.
Q
f20-db Fletcher-Munson equal-loudness contour
wasinterposedbetweenthe XlOO amplifierand
Fig. 5-Equivalent source-noise voltage.
the VTVM. The circuit diagram for this filter is
shown in Fig. 3 and the filter response along with
the+20-dbequal-loudnesscontourisshownin
T h e noise figure of the amplifier, referred to the open-
Fig.4. T h e white-noisebandwidthforthis sys-
circuit thermal noise of the source resistance, is shown
tem was 10.4 kc referred to the 1-kc response.
for cases B andC in Fig. 6. The curve for case Bis repre-
'The equivalent source-noise voltage obtained by these sentative of the performance that might be measured i n
three methods is shown i n Fig. 5 as a function of the most cases while the curve for case C is more representa-
sourceresistanceused. I n generalthe noise voltageis tive of what would be heard by a human audience since
seen to increase both with bandwidth and with source it takes into account the frequency variation of human
resistance. hearing.

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 6

Resisfooce- cycles per srcaod

Fig. 6-Xoise-figure characteristics. Fig. 7-Output-impedance characteristic.

For case B the curve bottoms at about 1300 Q while

for case C the curve bottoms at about 900 Q. nominal
? O
value of 1000 Q wouldcome close toprovidingmini- P
mum noise figure i n both cases. Values of source resist- -5
0

ance close to 1000 Q have also been reported by other in-

Y
vestigator~.~ Th e figure for case C does not deteri-
noise
orate quiteas rapidly at lower values of source resistance
as that for case B but, in any case, a 1 5 0 4 source re-
sistance would have a noise figure 2 d b poorer than the
optimum value. For case B this mould be 4 d b poorer -/0 20
than the optimum value.
Thecircuit u-asdesigned tohave l o ~ voutputim- Fig. 8--Temperature-respo1ise characteristic.
pedance to facilitate its connection to other equipment
or for transmission of the signal over appreciable dis- COXCLGSIOX
tances. The curve i n Fig. 7 shows that for a source re- &Atthe present time, dynamic and ribbon microphones
sistance of 1000 Q theoutputimpedance is approxi- areavailablewitheither 50,000-Q or less t h a n 2 5 0 4
mately 175 Q over most of the audible frequeuc). range. impedancelevels.Fortheamplifierdescribed i n this
-4s mentioned previousl)., it was not intended that this paper, a t a source-impedance level of 150 0, the noise
amplifier be operated at temperature extremes. I t was, figure has deteriorated 2 t o 4 db depending on the tl-pe
however, considered inlportant to deternliue just what of filterusedin the noise measurement. A substantial
the permissible temperature range would be. The upper improvement in performance would result if the rnicro-
curveinFig. 8 showsthevariation i n responseas a phone manufacturers were to supply the microphones
function of temperature for the amplifier of Fig. 1. I n with 900- t o 1100-Qimpedance 1e.vels for use with
this curve 0 db represents a voltage gain of 100. Satis- transistor preamplifiers. At this impedancelevel the sig-
factory operation was obtained u p to40°C. For tern- n a l could be carried over a substantial distance to a re-
peratures i n excess of 40°C the performance deteriorated mote preamplifier without picking up appreciable power-
rapidly. A slight increase i n the upper temperature limit frequent), hum. It would also be possible to locate this
of operation is obtained by connectinga suitable thermis- extrernel)? small preamplifier in the barrel or stand of
tor between the base of the first transistor and ground. themicrophone,toraisethesignal level byapproxi-
The lower curve i n Fig. 8 shows that the temperature matel!- 40 db and then to transmit it over an appreciable
limit of operation has been increased to about 48°C b!. distance at a 175-3 level. The microphone cable would
using a thermistor having 16-K Q resistance a t 25°C and need to supply only 1 m a a t 9-v dc for the operation of
a-4.4 percent/'C-temperature coefficient of resist- the preamplifier.
ance.Additionalimprovementinoperation a t high I t is shown in thispaperthattheperformance of
temperatures could be obtained b). more sophisticated the transistor microphone preamplifier is as good as the
stabilization techniques. better vacuum-tube units, if propersource-impedance
levels are maintained, and that other substantial
J. J. Davidson, "Lon- noise transistor microphoneamplifier,''
1957 IRE XATIOX.AI. COXWSTIOXRECORD, pt. 7, pp. 162-168. vantages are present.

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